Cactus?

[Sandra Powell]

New student excited to learn about using herbs. I realize that cacti aren’t herbs, but does anyone use cactus for medicinal purposes? I live in a steppe region and am surrounded by different varieties of cold hardy cacti.

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Jennifer Olson

[Michelle Koch]

Yes!  You probably know some cactus, primarily prickly pear are food – not only the fruits, but the “leaves” also.  But additionally, Doc has also mentioned somewhere that if you don’t have aloe vera, you can use pretty much any succulent: hens & chicks, purslane, even cactus.  That can be really handy when you’re out camping and trip and fall into the still smoldering coals of your campfire on your way to the out house!  (that happened to my son, but he didn’t know about cactus).  And just a side story, I once had a dog who only had cotton for brains, bless her.  She would come back from a gallop in the boonies with a mouth full of cactus needles.  I wondered how that happened until one day, while hiking with her on leash, she paused briefly to reach down and chomp a big bite out of a flowering cactus!  (Silly little cottonhead, bless her heart!)

[Sandra Powell]

Thanks, Michelle. I’m always getting stuck by them and the area gets inflamed. Maybe if I break open one of the pads, I can rub the sap on the inflamed part to cool it down.

[Rebecca Willer]

I live in Arizona, lots of cactus. I juice prickly pear cactus fruits every year and make jelly and syrup. So good!

Rebecca

 

[Theresa Zelazny]

When I lived in far west Texas, I read an article about prickly pear cactus pads used as food, spines, glauchids(the very fine, spiney  parts)removed, sliced thin saute’d. This food was said to help diabetics. I would like to find out more.

 

 

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Rebecca Willer

[Michelle Koch]

Yes, I remember reading something about it having a low glycemic index.  Talk to your Hispanic friends.  They will be able to tell you more, as it is a popular staple in grocery stores with a well stocked Hispanic section.

[Dr. Patrick Jones]

Yucca, agave, prickly pear and lots of other pokey kids like that are medicinal. Prickly pear is good for lowering blood sugars. yucca is a great anti-inflammatory, etc…

 

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

[Sharon]

Doc, I am very intrigued by your comment above.  I have tons of prickly pear and leg stabbing yucca (both of which have beautiful flowers as a lame apology for being a pain…).  At this time, because I don’t know how to use them, I rather hate them and the pain they cause.  However, I would love to be able to use them (medicinally, not picking stickers out to eat them) as I have heard that what you need seems to grow in your yard from time to time (like I assume the lovely asters that grew so abundantly in my yard last year were good for us, so I dried and tinctured some – wish I could remember what they are good for).  Anyway, if you would be so gracious as to let me know how to use these “pokey kids” for our good, I would love you even more!  Bonus points for rabbit brush too LOL!

[Dr. Patrick Jones]

Hi Sharon,

I talk about them in the various modules but I see I don’t have individual plant lessons on them finished up and posted yet. I’ll do Agave, Prickly Pear and Yucca today. They’ll be in the Individual Plants Section. :0)

The desert has been calling me lately begging for some attention. I just sent my crew down to Arizona last week to do some shooting. I’ll be going myself in the next couple of months to do some in depth stuff. There are a lot of desert species that don’t get near enough attention.

 

Don't use herbs or combine herbs with medications or use them during lactation or pregnancy without talking with your healthcare provider.

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Paige, Sandra Powell, Sharon

[Sharon]

Thanks Doc!  I’ll head over and watch them – you’re right though, many desert plants get overlooked (probably since us desert dwellers are the minority in the US).  Most of the population has a more humid/rainy environment.  Thanks again for the monographs on these plants – I look forward to more great info.  Hopefully my nemesis the Rabbit Brush will turn out to be useful LOL!

[Sandra Powell]

Rabbitbrush, or as we call it here, Chamisa, may not be beneficial to us, but at least it is an important food source for all kinds of butterflies! (~:

[Sharon]

Rabbit brush is one of the only things around that nothing seems to eat or like – even the deer that eat everything in sight won’t touch it!  And in spite of it’s name, the rabbits don’t like it either!

[Sharon]

I didn’t see agave or prickly pear, but bummer on the yucca – I was afraid that the roots were the main/only good part of a yucca 🙁

Our ground is very similar to very large rocks/boulders with concrete poured over it.  I get a VERY short period of time in the early (still pretty cold) spring when the ground is not concrete like.  Hopefully that can work, and hopefully I can learn a bit more about how to use the roots.  Thanks 🙂

[Jennifer Olson]

This was a question i had as well, i live on the plains in WY so we do have some cactus as well as lots of sage. so this was an appropriate question to bring up.

[Sandra Powell]

Found a book that includes cacti and many other desert species – “Herbal Medicine of the American Southwest” by Charles W. Kane (2009). It has helped with identification of some great plants here in northern NM.

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